Samsung Galaxy S3 might come with dual-core Snapdragon S4 processors in the US

One of the biggest drawbacks of the Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core processor is its incompatibility with LTE radios. This issue was at the forefront with the release of the HTC One X, with the international version featuring the Tegra 3 processor, but the US version using a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 dual-core processor. Of course, some benchmark tests suggest that this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it still means that the specs maniacs in the US are a while away from getting their hands on a quad-core device.

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While HTC missed out on introducing the first quad-core phone in the US, it now seems that Samsung is heading in the same direction, according to The Korea Times. An unidentified Samsung executive mentioned that Samsung plans to release its next flagship device with different specifications for different markets. The source continues to state that the Galaxy S3 will feature Samsung’s own quad-core Exynos processors for European and Korean markets, but will use Qualcomm chips for the US.

This is very possible considering the problems quad-core processors face with LTE compatibility. Nvidia has an LTE supported chip in the works for release only in 2013, and while we have no information on Samsung’s Exynos lineup, this might also be true for Samsung’s quad-core processor. Of course, Samsung does make its own dual-core processors as well, so no definite call on this issue can be made just yet.

Further fueling the speculation is the statement by Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs, again to Korea Times, in which he said that Qualcomm is facing a shortage of 28-nanometer capacity (Snapdragon S4) and is finding it difficult to meet increasing demands. This won’t cause problems for Samsung, as the Korean company is a top-tier Qualcomm customer, but might adversely affect smaller OEMs, such as LG and Pantech.

As with all other Samsung Galaxy S3 rumors, there is no way to confirm or deny this new information. While likely, we will only know more with the official announcement of the device on May 3.

What are your thoughts? Will the use of a Qualcomm dual-core processor as opposed to Samsung’s quad-core Exynos affect the popularity of the device? Let us know in the comments section below.